January 11, 2006
The End of Marion Barry?
It was almost hard to believe the news was true -- Marion Barry, in hot water over alleged cocaine use? Again?
It tested the mind -- Why would he run such a risk? Why would he put an otherwise quiet yet steady year-long stint on the D.C. Council in jeopardy? Why threaten his ability to positively shape his own legacy, to retire from District politics more as an effective legislator than as a discredited former mayor?
Why?
That may be the wrong question for a man like Barry. He's never been one to appeal to convention, much less have many of his actions been easily explained or justified. If anything, we should be asking ourselves, "What next?"
Will Barry fight back like he did after his 1990 arrest and 1991 conviction for smoking crack? Will he appeal to his larger-than-life persona in Ward 8 and claim that the man is out to get him -- the old warrior -- again? Or will he go quietly, opting instead to retire, too old and beaten to mount a public defense?
Will his constituents -- the city's poorest -- finally tire of the charade? Will they demand effective governance instead of constant us-versus-them posturing? Will his fellow council-members ask him to step aside, to move along for the best of the city?
Will this be the end of Marion Barry?
If history serves as a guide, no. He's come back from much worse, so he can probably do it again. But if we believe in a new District, a city growing out of an era of financial collapse and bureaucratic inefficiency, then the answer changes. Redemption can only come so many times, and a city can only forgive so much.
It's been real, Mr. Barry, but this may be it.
|
Maybe the Mayor will cut him a break if Barry changes his vote for baseball...
if anyone can point me in the direction of one of those vintage, "the god damn bitch set me up" t-shirts from the first episode...please do.
Will this be the end of Marion Barry?
Lets put it this way: Barry could show up to a council meeting high on coke, crap on the podium and then whip out his tackle and slap Linda Cropp in the face with his mule and his career wouldn't be over. The people who support him apparently don't care, so he won't either.
Amid all the snarky comments and laughter, it's worth remembering that this is a human being who's clearly got a serious, serious addiction problem. It's really sad to see somebody destroy themselves like this no matter what you may think of his politics.
On a related note, if you're interested in reading about Barry's rise to power be sure to find "Dream City" by Harry Jaffe and Tom Sherwood. It's a must read for anybody who's interested in DC. It also puts today's news into perspective.
"Why would he run such a risk? Why would he put an otherwise quiet yet steady year-long stint on the D.C. Council in jeopardy? Why threaten his ability to positively shape his own legacy, to retire from District politics more as an effective legislator than as a discredited former mayor? Why?"
It's called addicition. Don't search for a logical reason why, it doesn't exist.
Can we officially have his name changed to Count Crackula?
Having an addiction doesn't excuse you from your job responsabilities. It's been time for Marion to go for a long time. The residents of his ward deserve better, the District deserves better. Barry stands for all that is screwed up with DC politics.
Amid all the snarky comments and laughter, it's worth remembering that this is a human being who's clearly got a serious, serious addiction problem. It's really sad to see somebody destroy themselves like this no matter what you may think of his politics.
And Barry has had the time and means to try to beat said addiction, and yet he apparently has done very little (other than blame others) to combat it. And now is Barry destroying himself? He seems to be doing as well as ever (a nice koosh Council seat, lots of $$$, the love and respect of his constiuants, etc); the only problem (from his perspective) is he keeps getting caught.
Man that "Count Crackula" thing is classic. Can I get a t-shirt with that on it? Reminds me of those old 70s horror films, "Count Blackula". Those films were great by the way. 70s films are always underrated for the humor value.
And Barry has had the time and means to try to beat said addiction, and yet he apparently has done very little (other than blame others) to combat it.
Even with the best treatment in the world, an addict is still an addict. Barry needs to get his personal house in order.
It's a shame for the residents of Ward 8, and I feel sorry for them. They trusted Barry to bring them the world, and he's failing them again.
First of all, to Uncle Fester -- please try a little spell check. To almost everyone else -- since I'm sure that no one here has ever, ever broken our nation's drug laws -- feel free to judge. I bet that no one here smokes any pot, has snorted any coke or meth, or "borrowed" some Ritalin or Adderall to get through an exam -- so you all should feel free to condemn Barry. After all, he's the only political leader ever in the history of the United States to use an illegal drug. Right?
Why do you feel sorry for the residents of Ward 8?
It's not like Barry was some unknown quantity. If you were stupid enough to vote for that lying crackhead, you get what you deserve.
He really is the embodiment of DC. You can slap up a few condos and put in a Whole Foods, but in some ways the malaise is almost inconquerable.
I truly wish the man the best and hope he is able to pull his life together, but that said, I can't help but hope that this will (finally!)bring an end to the "Marion Barry era" in DC. For far too long, he has made DC the laughing stock of the nation. His legal troubles and exotic behavior have overshadowed whatever good he has done for this city. It's time to move on. DC's residents deserve better.
Yes, Barry does have an addiction. The place for addicts to recover is in treatment, not on the DC council or in jail.
Does anyone know what did Jim Graham say on WUSA-9 today when asked about Barry?
To almost everyone else -- since I'm sure that no one here has ever, ever broken our nation's drug laws -- feel free to judge. I bet that no one here smokes any pot, has snorted any coke or meth, or "borrowed" some Ritalin or Adderall to get through an exam -- so you all should feel free to condemn Barry. After all, he's the only political leader ever in the history of the United States to use an illegal drug. Right?
And I'm sure that no one else here has ever run a major US city into the ground when they've been mayor, nor have they failed to pay taxes for half a decade...
Man, how I love the "let's let Barry off the hook because he's not to blame, his addiction is" crowd. You proved my earlier point donmiguel, Barry can pretty much do anything he wants and the likes of you will give him a free pass.
Even if everyone of us on this site did drugs (which I highly doubt) that does not mean we can't complain about our elected officials doing drugs. We deserve better than crackheads on the D.C. Council. Public officials should be better than Barry simply because they are accountable to the people. A crackhead on the street isn't accountable to anyone so we don't care about his addication problems.
I'm with donmiguel on this one...plenty of people break this country's drug laws all the time, Barry wasn't the first, and he won't be the last...
What does all this mean, anyway? That he does some coke - so. the. fuck. what. He's a DC Council member, it's not like he drives a school bus (somebody I'd rather not see doing drugs) - where's the actual harm from what he's done (besides to himself?) Marion Barry is popular in his Ward because he honestly and truly loves this city and the people who live in it - that's hard enough to come by. People want to demonize Barry because of his drug use, but, really, it's not like he's out there feasting on kittens or anything.
Oh no, not feasting on kittens... just making the city worse with counterproductive policies and needlessly divisive politics. But hey, he's a friend of the underworld, so that makes him cool, I guess.
Here's a thought: Maybe he'd be a better city leader if he wasn't on drugs. Maybe the fact that he has an addiction that hinders his ability to lead the city effectively is a major problem, regardless of whether it's his fault or if a bunch of people on DCist who aren't responsible for the whole city's livelihood toke up occasionally.
Barry is not the only person on the DC City Council who had/has a substance abuse problem.
Remember Jim Graham said that he had a serious alcohol problem when he was wading through a troubled marriage coming to grips with his homosexuality and finally got up the guts to divorce his wife? His addiction did not end right away.
There are others on the City Council who are high. One of our female council members has a bi-polar disorder that makes he have to work out of her home most of the time and limits her time at the council or in public.
Nobody on the council is without some addition that could bring them down if you look hard enough.
Barry is just the most brazen of them who flaunts his addiction and does not care who sees it.
I agree with Bob. A person with a drug problem cannot do their job at the highest level (I question when Barry ever did his job well). Some on this site would love to see city officials to be able to light up freely at the D.C. city council meetings and pass laws while doing it. I know the crazy stuff I think of when I am drunk. I wonder what Barry thinks up when he is high on whatever?
It's a national embarrassment for the city, that's "the.fuck.what". It reflects a weakness in his character. It reflects a belief that the rules don't apply to him because of his social status. Why didn't he pay taxes on over half a million dollars of income? Because he's Marion Barry, and he doesn't think he has to follow the rules.
I think we should subject our leaders to a higher standard. If we can't trust that he's obeying the drug laws or paying his taxes, how can we trust that he's not committing graft or corruption? I apply this standard to any politician, escpecially one that clearly has a pathological tendency to blame others for his own problems.
And who now believes we've heard the real story on his "robbery" last week?
Maybe Anthony Williams should start doing some coke and realize how fucked his dealings with MLB have been
I always thought the "robbery" was suspect but I will give anyone the benefit of the doubt. Ugh. Its always a crazy story when talking about Marion "I am above the law" Barry.
This is just the tip of the iceberg that is about to capsize down at the city council.
Barry will probably be gone because of this.
Evans will probably have to resign over his two financial problems with campaign finance.
Orange will have to address why he a mayoral candidate is running slum houses out in his ward.
Cropp is not finished with Fenty over the issue of whether or not he did misappropriate money and property of older clients and what was the role of his wife a real estate broker in actually helping to sell off the home(s) of clients.
Patterson may have some answering to do about those $420 million in contract awards that were not proper.
Indeed, the troubles are just beginning and how far will the Post, Times, Examiner or even DCist go to ruin a few careers in their superb journalist endeavors.
^^^^^
Mornin' Rees.
Kinda puts that "two nice young men carrying groceries to my door at 2 am, then robbed me" story in perspective, too.
It appears that my earlier post may have been misconstrued.
Barry’s addiction doesn’t excuse his behavior or alter the fact that he’s damaged the city with his antics and corruption. But it never hurts to realize that the politicians are, underneath all the pompous bloviation, actually human beings with all the accompanying complexity and frailties. By remembering this we can focus on the two really important issues – the need for better leadership in Ward 8 and the need for this person to accept responsibility for his problems and try to fix them.
Between this, the DC contracting investigations, the City Council getting taken to the cleaners by major league baseball, and the violent crime spike in the gentrified areas downtown, I think 2006 will go down as the year DC peaked.
It's 1985 all over again. At least the real estate market will start to slow down.
I hope its better than the 80s in DC.
I think he's gearing up for a 2008 presidential bid. The crack addiction was too plebeian, too common; in order to get the rich vote he had to test positive for that pure Colombian powder. In keeping with this crazed notion that we ought to elect "people like us" to positions of power, and the widespread (deliberately sown) mistrust of "people smarter and better than us," I think it's a good solid political strategy. Has Barry been seen hanging out with Rove recently?
man, you people sure are good at being all high and mighty (no pun intended). Like Barry is the only guy in power does cocaine. I'm not going to defend it, but can someone point to something Barry has screwed up lately?
Can somebody point to something I haven't screwed up lately?
Bitch set me up!
You never screwed me you loser and that is why I left you, got the house and now you have to live among your fellow crack heads.
By the way, did you tell them that was not a hold up but a tip you have your Dial A Crack Dealer?
The bitch got me high!
Being high on crack could get me a job as a writer with DCist as those guys are always trippin about something.
Meta point: for all the talk about the crazy shit that goes down when comments are open and free, I for one think this discussion has been really interesting. Fact is, I see merits in pretty much all the points folks are raising...
* Holy crap, Barry... again?!
* Poor guy; he's human, substance abuse is tough to kick, and this has to be causing him pain.
* Human tragedy is tragic. And it can also be damn funny. This is both.
* Ward 8: c'mon folks. There's compassion, and then there's enabling--the guy needs to be put where he can get help, not put into public office.
* You know, drugs as axis of all evil can be taken way too far. So he has some coke in his system, to what degree is it actually effecting his ability to do his job? Frankly, I think Barry does a terrible job as a public official, and for reasons of incompetence that have nothing to do with whether he happens to be taking drugs.
* DC has weathered the shame and political costs of governance incompetence for too long. It's a rotten legacy, and this feeds into it. For all the snarky urban pride DC residents like to try and stake out, here's a moment for some personal shame. Take some civic ownership--your council: do something about it. Want to show you care about voting rights? Show you at least care enough to change the quality of those you have in office. (And I say that as someone who was a resident of DC for over a decade and did activism work in favor of voting rights.)
Anyway, I just wanted to say that it's great to see this kind of discussion going on. DCist: one small step for civil society building in DC :-)
"Like Barry is the only guy in power does cocaine."
I'm sure he's not. What's your point? Find 'em all, kick 'em out of office. They can get treatment and get better and come back with my respect, even possibly earn back my trust, if they've got the strength and commitment to do so.
People need to face up to the fact that holding up drug addicts as role models and choosing them as leaders makes everyone involved look ridiculous and irresponsible. No community benefits from being represented by an incompetent, lying addict, and no addict benefits from being indulged.
Who from Ward 8 will stand up and run this guy into the ground, give their neighborhood a real leader?
I can almost hear Tina Fey and John Stewart writing their jokes right now....
Can someone give a rundown of all the positive things Barry has done for the city?
I have been told he did some really good things in the 70s for the D.C. school system, but I can't swear to that. Other than that I can't say. You could list 100 great list he did and it wouldn't make up for the bad rep. this city has as a direct result of him.
The second list should be things. Sorry for the bad editing.
Q. Can someone give a rundown of all the positive things Barry has done for the city?
A. He showed us how an elected leader should NOT behave.
Ok, the "Because [Barry] honestly and truly loves this city and the people who live in it" comment put me over the edge. Barry loves himself. Just ask his wife. He couldn't even quit drugs to keep them together (based on the fact that she left him right after the Buzzard's Point incident). He seems to do what he believes will make him popular with his fans. He wants to show he's not a "sell-out" (even though he always has his price), and show he will stand up to The Man (even though he is The Man). He does this because he's a populist who can't stay away from the spotlight. He needs it. Not because he loves the people, but because he loves himself. If he loved the people he wouldn't have driven the city into the ground. Instead he spent money on things to make his fans happy. In the long run they were no better off for it. In fact they were worse off because they no longer had responsive city services to support them - police, health care, EDUCATION. He drove the schools into the ground, and the children of his city have been sufferring for it for a long time. You can't honestly say you love the people when you treat them like that, you say that you love them because you want to be loved by them to satisfy your own ego.
I highly recommend the book "The Last of the Black Emperors" by Jonetta Rose Barras.
I still have trouble picturing a 70 year old man sitting down to the mirror with a rolled up dollar bill, cutting up some lines an snorting them down. It just doesn't look right.
Good things that Marion Barry has done for the city?
Mark Plotkin always states that Marion Barry championed Home Rule for DC.
I also read this on DCWatch, but these would also appear to be the things he undid:
"Barry was the District's second elected mayor in modern times. He inherited a stagnant bureaucracy, staggering inefficiency and waste. Yet, he came to City Hall ready to work. By all accounts, political observers note that Barry's first term was probably his best. He was described in one media account as "an effective and formidable chief executive." The new mayor rolled up his sleeves, cleaned up city finances, opened the city government and ran the city well.
Barry's first city administrator Elijah Rogers notes that the Barry Administration balanced the budget, conducted the first audit in 100 years and achieved seven years of reducing the accumulated debt. Among Barry's accomplishments, he oversaw a construction boom that led to a radically altered downtown skyline, the addition of 23 million square feet of office space in 10 years and the tripling of property tax revenue to $700 million annually."
"During Barry's second term, he sought to consolidate the gains of his first term. In spite of unsubstantiated allegations of corruption and other problems, the Barry Administration still expanded downtown and provided thousands of jobs to District residents."
It would appear he discovered cocaine durng his second term re-election celebration party.
I don't know why I didn't think of this before. The Washington Examiner highlights one of Marion Barry's most important (and obvious)accomplishments:
"A District government flush with cash is a happy change from the days when the federal government had to step in to manage the city's finances, and Mayor Anthony Williams deserves much of the credit. Naming him the city's chief financial officer was one of former Mayor Marion Barry's few lasting accomplishments. Williams imposed order on chaos and got D.C. back on track to self government two years earlier than expected. Being elected mayor himself was just compensation for a job well done."
Another major accomplishment of Marion Barry is that while he was mayor, the cost of CRACK actually dropped in the DC and remained constant while it was increasing in other city!
Barry was a big supporter of the arts. A lot of artists and their associates look back on his administration fondly.
Jonathan Rees pitched his campaign in the current issue of themail, published by www.dcwatch.com. Anyone who wants to comment on Rees can rebut him there.
Say what you will. Barry was a REAL mayor...I like him a lot more than an ex chief of police in san diego
say what your will, Barry was a REAL mayor...sharp dresser also
I knew Barry myself...He was a doog mayor ofcourse... But that was though long ago...